Clark passes Maravich in latest accomplishment
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Caitlin Clark stood alone at the freethrow line on Sunday and made the foul shots that put her atop the all-time NCAA Division I scoring chart.
The flash and pizzazz of her game have made her the biggest name in all of college basketball. Yet it was two free throws after a technical foul that pushed Clark past the late Pete Maravich’s 54-yearold record in No. 6 Iowa’s 9383 win over No. 2 Ohio State.
Clark entered the game in Iowa City needing 18 points to pass Maravich’s total of 3,667, amassed in just 83 games over three seasons at Louisiana State (1967-70). She finished with 35 to run her total to 3,685 in 130 games.
Maravich’s mark fell four days after Clark broke Lynette Woodard’s major college women’s record.
“Just to be in the same realm of all these players who have been so successful, whether it’s Pete or Kelsey Plum or Lynette Woodard — all these people have just given so much to the game,” Clark said. “Hopefully somebody comes after me and breaks my records and I can be there supporting them.”
Best known for her long 3-pointers, Clark was called on to go to the foul line after Cotie Mcmahon was assessed a technical for giving her a little push during a dead ball with less than a second to go in the first half.
Woodard was among those at Carver-hawkeye Arena to help Clark celebrate senior day.
“It’s a great time for women’s basketball,” Woodard said. “Caitlin is leading the way. As she was chipping away, I said records are made to be broken. Also, they’re made to be honored. Because of her, my records are being honored. … I passed her the baton to go ahead and burst through that ceiling, and I’m so happy for her.”
Clark is all but assured of one or two more appearances at the arena in Iowa City. Iowa is projected to be a No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament, meaning it would be at home for the first two rounds.
Pearl Moore of Francis Marion owns the overall women’s record with 4,061 points from 1975-79 at the small-college level in the AIAW. Moore had 177 points at Anderson Junior College before enrolling at Francis Marion.
Clark is 376 points behind Moore, and she has two to nine more games left in an Iowa uniform, depending on how far the Hawkeyes advance in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments.
Maravich’s all-time scoring mark is one of the more remarkable in sports history. There was no shot clock or 3-point line in his era.
Maravich averaged 44.2 points per game. He scored more than 60 in a game four times, topping out at 69 against Alabama on Feb. 7, 1970.
LSU coach Kim Mulkey said after her team’s win over Kentucky on Sunday that comparing Maravich and Clark would be like comparing apples and oranges.
“What Clark has done is unbelievable and her name will be right up there at the top,” Mulkey said. “But he played over here with no 3-point line, three years, and I don’t think we need to make too much of, ‘Well, she passed him because he’s a man.’ She’s who she is, and that’s awesome. Lord knows when I (coached) against her: ‘Are you kidding me? What a generational talent.’”
Clark averages 28.3 points for her career. Her biggest output was 49 points against Michigan on Feb. 15, when she passed Plum as the NCAA women’s Division I career scoring leader.